Install TWRP Recovery On Moto X Play & Root It

Motorola is still following the trend set by Google which it introduced while owning Motorola. Pulling out smartphones with decent specifications under a very nice price tag was what helped Google to lift up Motorola’s boat that was about to drown. The recent flagship series of Motorola also shows the same. The new Moto X series has come up carrying some very nice specifications with an affordable price tag, which is liked by quite many users. One of the smartphones which is a part of the new Motorola trio is Moto X Play.

Moto X Play(2015) sports a 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080p display. This device carries a 21 MP shooter at its back and a 5 MP selfie shooter. Motorola used a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset to power up this device and a RAM of 2 GB. Moto X Play is available in 16/32 GB storage options. This device has a microSD card slot as well that supports up to 128 GB. Motorola has packed a huge 3630 mAh battery inside this device. Moto X Play runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box.

Moto X Play has a close-to-stock Android experience. Motorola doesn’t load any bloatware in its smartphones which is the reason for the efficient performance of these devices. In case you want to unleash the real potential of your Moto X Play, you will have to go a little beyond the boundaries. Gaining root access on your Moto X Play and the installing a TWRP recovery is what you can do to step inside the open-source experimental world of Android. Luckily, a TWRP recovery has already landed for the Moto X Play, that means you can also root your device now.

Users who are new to the term root access and custom recovery, they may want to know that root access is what basically helps you to unlock all the features that are apparently locked by the device manufacturers. After rooting your device, you can install root-specific applications and boost the performance and battery life of your Moto X Play. After installing a custom recovery like TWRP recovery, you can flash Custom ROMs, Mods, create & restore Nandroid backups and a lot more. In the succeeding post we are going to install a TWRP recovery on our beloved Moto X Play, after installing TWRP, we will also root this device.

Early preps:

• This guide is only on for Moto X Play(2015). Do not try this method on any other device, otherwise you might result in bricking it.
• Backup your important contacts, call logs, media content and text messages as a safety measure.
• Charge your phone up to 60% in order to avoid any power issues during the recovery installation and rooting process.
• Enable USB debugging on your phone. To do so, go to settings > about device > tap build number for 7 times. You will have developer options in settings now. Open developer options > check USB debugging mode.
• Use original data cable to establish connection between your device and your PC.
• Follow this guide to the letter to avoid and mishap.

Disclaimer: Methods involved in flashing custom recoveries and rooting the device are highly custom. In case of a mishap, Techbeasts or Motorola may not be held responsible. Make sure that you’re doing everything at your own risk.

Required downloads & installations

1. Unlock the bootloader of your Moto X Play.
2. Download and install Motorola USB drivers.
3. Download ADB & Fastboot packege with TWRP recovery.img file. Extract this ADB & Fastboot file on your desktop to access its contents.
4. Download SuperSu.zip file and copy it to your phone’s internal storage.

How To Install TWRP Recovery on Moto X Play

Step#1: Make sure that you’ve followed all the steps explained above.

Step#2: Now connect your Moto G to your PC. If it asks for some permission on the phone, check allow this PC and tap ok.

Step#3: Now open the extracted Minimal ADB & Fastboot folder.

Step#4: Now click on py_cmd.exe file in order to open the command prompt.

Step#5: Enter the following commands in command prompt one by one.

Step#6: adb devices

This command will list the connected adb devices. You can verify whether your device is connected properly or not.

Step#7: adb reboot-bootloader 

This command will reboot your Moto X Play in bootloader mode.

Step#8: fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

This will flash TWRP recovery on your Moto X Play.

Step#9: As the recovery flashing is over, select recovery from Fastboot mode on your phone. You will now see the TWRP logo on the screen, that means you’ve successfully flashed TWRP recovery.

Step#10: Tap Reboot > System in TWRP recovery in order to reboot your Moto X Play now & let’s root it now.

How To Root Moto X Play

Step#1: Make sure that you’ve copied SuperSu.zip file to your phone. In case you haven’t, do it now.

Step#2: Now boot your phone in to TWRP recovery mode. To do so, turn it off completely first. Now turn it on by pressing and holding Volume Down + Power Key.

Step#3: As you see TWRP recovery, tap “Install > Locate the copied SuperSu.zip file (should be at bottom) > tap this file > Swipe the bar at the bottom of screen to confirm flash”.

Step#4: As soon as SuperSu.zip file is flashed, go back to main menu in TWRP and tap reboot > system.

Step#5: Your device will boot up now. Find SuperSu in app drawer. Install Root Checker app to verify root access.

Also See: How To Remove Unlocked Bootloader Warning From Moto G 2015, Moto X Style & Moto X Play

That’s all. Stuck with something? Don’t worry! Reach us out through the comment box below.